Despite three goals from junior midfielder Tiffany Cristofanelli, the D'Youville women's lacrosse team was defeated by No. 22 Mercyhurst, 18-7, in non-conference action Sunday afternoon at Saxon Stadium in Erie, Pa.

The victory improved the Lakers to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 on the afternoon after their 17-10 win over Walsh earlier in the day, while the Saints dropped to 0-2 for the 2021 campaign.

The 22nd-ranked Lakers were led on the offensive front by Julia Rescott's trio of goals, while her teammate Gabby McGinn paced all players with four points (one goal, three assists) in the contest. With five ground balls, Mercyhurst goalkeeper Raelyn Tiberio handled the defensive load with eight saves as well, while D'Youville freshman goalie Hannah Wilson posted 11 saves in the loss.

Opening the scoring with a goal from Rescott, Mercyhurst set the pace for the first half. Junior midfielder Riley Riedel brought the score even for the Saints at 1-1, firing a shot past the right side of Tiberio at the 26:01 mark. The Lakers answered with three more goals, before sophomore midfielder Bethany Wolcott recorded her first goal of the campaign to make it 4-2. Two more Laker goals followed, but Riedel cut the Mercyhurst advantage to 6-3 with her second tally of the game, this time off a free-position opportunity. After another Mercyhurst goal, Cristofanelli registered her first tally of the day on a free-position chance to shrink the deficit to 7-4, but the hosts responded by scoring five more times before the horn sounded on the first half.

The Laker picked up where they left off in the second half, adding three more scores before Cristofanelli broke up the run with a D'Youville free-position goal. The Saints and Lakers both went scoreless for the next seven minutes before a pass from senior midfielder Isabella Lucania set up Cristofanelli for the hat trick at 13:31 on the second half. Merchurst returned to the scoresheet 19 seconds later thanks to Torie Sullivan, with the Lakers tacking on two more goals in the closing minutes. Despite the Mercyhurst surge, it would be the Saints to close out the scoring, as sophomore attack Danielle Thompson notched her first goal in a D'Youville uniform with 3:11 left in the game.

Notables – Riedel stands at seven-straight multi-goal games, dating back to April 26, 2019 … Cristofanelli has scored three-plus goals in five of her last six contests played, and has tallied multiple goals in eight of her last nine contests … The Lakers won the ground-ball battle, picking up 30 compared to 18 for the Saints … D'Youville struggled all day on clear attempts, only converting nine of their 21 attempts, while Mercyhurst went 10-for-13 on clears … The Lakers also had the edge in draw controls, 18-9, and shots, 41-20 … One area where the Saints had the edge was in free-position shots, converting three of their seven attempts into goals, while the Lakers went 0-for-3 from the free-position.

Up Next – The Saints open East Coast Conference play on Saturday, March 20, at Bridgeport. That game is slated to start at 1 p.m.

Follow the Saints – You can follow the D'Youville women's lacrosse team on Instagram (@dyouvillewlax) and Twitter (@dyouvillewlax).